Old Faces, Same Places
by thechosenpen
Summary: This story takes place within season 3 of Vampire Diaries. It's been over a month since the sacrifice and still no sign of Stefan. As Elena and Damon come to terms with the meaning of this, an old face from the past appears and suddenly everything changes. Kind of ignoring several developments as this story was planned before Season 3 really began. (Also ignores seasons 4 & 5)
1. unhappy birthdays and old journals

**unhappy birthdays and old journals  
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**DISLCAIMER:** _any characters or plotlines that you recognise are obviously not mine. this is my interpretation of how season 3 could have been. i will be incorporating elements that the TVD writers wrote in but they will have my own twist on them. but yeah. obviously tvd is not mine or i would not be sitting here writing this._

**CHAPTER 1:_  
><em>**

"But how can she just bail like that? I mean like did she give an excuse?" Caroline Forbes threw her hands up in annoyance, glaring at Damon like it was his fault that her best friend had bailed on her own party. After all, it wasn't like Caroline had spent weeks and weeks planning this awesome party at The Grill and organising invitations and which bands to play or anything. And Elena thought she could just ditch this carefully planned party thrown just for her? That was just rude. Surely Elena realised by now that ditching a Caroline-party was one of the biggest friendship violations possible.

Caroline told Damon just that as she clutched a bottle of alcohol (she wasn't quite sure what it was since Tyler had just handed it to her before rushing off) tightly in one hand and used the other to shove Damon into responding. From the moment she had marched up to him, demanding to know where Elena was, Damon had hardly been given chance to get a word in. Not that he had much energy to really say much anyway but still it wasn't quite fair of her to get mad at him for not responding when she didn't give him a chance to.

Still, drunk-vampire Caroline was a bit scary when she wanted answers. The older vampire leaned away from Caroline's drunken violence and shrugged as he tried to come up with a satisfying answer to let him escape.

"Nope." He replied helpfully. Well that was something. He was at least answering her question.

"But you tried to get her to come didn't you? This is her eighteenth birthday party!" Caroline exclaimed in frustration. Damon just shrugged again. Honestly he hadn't even expected to see Elena today but she'd dropped by about an hour ago in jeans and a t-shirt asking to come and hang out. When he'd mentioned the party she just glared at him before walking upstairs and locking herself in Stefan's room where she spent most of her time now.

"Look I figured she wouldn't be much fun anyway so I came alone. And now you're being just as annoying so maybe you should go sulk with her." He said, raising an eyebrow at the blonde vampire. Caroline just glared at him before storming off in a huff.

Damon wasn't actually sure why he had come to this party. He realised as Caroline disappeared into the crowd that she was sort of the only person he could be bothered talking to here. He sure as hell wasn't going to go and chat up Bonnie since he wasn't in the mood for unnecessary headaches and Tyler was a werewolf so he wasn't even going to consider that option. Instead Damon stayed right where he was, slumped in a small booth alone. He didn't even have Ric to keep him was only now, when he was sitting here alone and bored, that Damon realised how lonely he was in this town and how reliant he had become on his younger brother. Ever since he had arrived in Mystic Falls he had been hell-bent on annoying Stefan and ruining his life. This also meant that the only people he really associated with were connected to Stefan. And now Stefan was gone, leaving Damon alone. Taking a slow sip of his drink, the depressing thought that he clearly wasn't as popular as he had imagined crossed his mind. If the only reason people talked to him was because they tolerated him for Stefan's sake, he really was doing something wrong.

These thoughts really were too depressing for a party though, Damon had to admit. After all he was supposed to be forgetting about Stefan and trying to move on. Stefan clearly didn't want his help and he was clearly a very different person from the vampire who had left last month. Damon needed to get his act together and move on.

Speaking of moving, this party was no longer enticing Damon at all. Upon spotting Caroline a few metres away arguing with some other blonde barbie leaning against Tyler, Damon swiftly crossed over to her and grabbed her arm. She turned around sharply, her vampire reflexes showing through, but relaxed when she realised it was Damon.

"Well as thrilling as this party is for me, I'm out." Damon raised his voice over the music and nodded his head back towards the front door. Caroline's eyes widened in objection but she paused for a moment and gave him an odd look before nodding.

"Go. Go talk to Elena." She said, her voice softer than his but still rose to be heard over the music. Ah, it had been a look of pity. Great.

"Oh I will." He gave her a suggestive smirk, implying that they wouldn't just be talking, before striding towards the front door and disappearing into the dark night, leaving Caroline to watch after him with a worried expression. She wasn't too concerned though and was back arguing with the other blonde barbie a second later.

It didn't take Damon long to arrive back at the Salvatore residence. Once he was sure there was no one around, he was able to speed back home. When he arrived at the front door though, he was immediately uneasy. It was that prickling feeling you get when you know you are being watched, or when something is just not right. Damon's mind immediately flew to Elena and he rushed through the door, letting it swing back on its hinges.

"Elena? ELENA?" Damon stood in the entrance and strained his ears for any hint of the small brunette he'd come to care about so much.

Silence.

"Shit."


	2. denial and doorknocks

**A/N: **Hey everyone, just want to say a quick thanks to all of the people who have added this story to their favourites and alerts already after one chapter! I hope you enjoy the story as it continues! Don't forget to review and let me know if I am going a bit too OCC with the characters too hehe :)

**DISLCAIMER:** _any characters or plotlines that you recognise are obviously not mine. this is my interpretation of how season 3 could have been. i will be incorporating elements that the TVD writers wrote in but they will have my own twist on them. but yeah. obviously tvd is not mine or i would not be sitting here writing this._

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><p><strong>denial and doorknocks<br>**

**CHAPTER 2:**

"Shit." Damon cursed under his breath as he sped from room to room looking for any sign of life. His mind naturally flew to Stefan and Klaus which was anything but comforting. "Shit, shit, shit." Damon grabbed at his hair as he began to panic at no sign of Elena. Klaus must have found out that she was still alive. Or maybe it was Katherine back to cause havoc. Either way Damon was only getting more and more worried. A million different scenarios flew through Damon's mind all at once. Maybe Klaus had come and taken her. Or maybe Stefan had found her and was hiding her. No, if it was Stefan he was most likely feeding on her right now, given the state he was probably in. Maybe she had just decided to call it a night and gone home. But Damon was positive that Elena had claimed she was staying the night, unable to part herself from the last reminders of Stefan.

After checking every room downstairs as well as the dungeon downstairs and Stefan's room since that was where he'd left her, Damon heard a faint sniff coming from upstairs. He halted for a moment, trying to digest this. He was sure he'd checked Stefan's room, so where was the sound coming from?

Cautiously, Damon tip-toed around the second floor of the house and followed the sound he had heard. In the end he found himself standing outside his own bedroom. Slowly pushing the door open, he spotted the source and let out a breath of relief that he hadn't realised he had been holding. There was Elena sitting on his bed, legs tightly crossed, clutching what looked like one of Stefan's old journals. Her head was bent down as she sniffed, not having noticed Damon's presence (or apparently his loud calling out for the past five minutes).

"Well this is nice. I didn't even have to force you in here." Damon drawled, leaning against the doorframe. Elena's head snapped up in a panic but she relaxed as soon as she saw him, wisely choosing to ignore his suggestive comment. She immediately ducked her head back down though, trying to discreetly wipe her wet eyes. But Damon wasn't stupid, despite what some people claimed. He strolled over towards her and after hesitating for a moment, sat down beside her.

"How was the party?" Elena asked feebly in attempt to avoid what was really going on. She placed the journal on the other side of her and left a hand covering it delicately as though it was some precious jewel. Damon reached around her back and snatched it up, ignoring Elena's cry of protest. She gave up quickly though and settled for letting out a sigh of annoyance as Damon flicked through the journal absently.

"Fine, but Caroline is going to murder you tomorrow, FYI. You did sort of ditch your own birthday party, you know." The atmosphere was comfortable now with Elena resting her head on Damon's broad shoulder. He leaned back into her, breathing in her scent and thanking the Gods, if there were any, that she was safe. The weird feeling he'd had when he arrived home was gone now. Elena was safe.

Elena groaned as Damon mentioned Caroline. She'd known as soon as she decided not to go that there would be consequences. There always were when it came to Caroline.

"Well she can deal with it." Elena said shortly in response. "I just wasn't in the mood to go out and get drunk just because I'm a year older, you know?" There was a pause for a moment as the unspoken words sat between the pair. Right, a year older. She was now a year older than Stefan. Well not technically but it still counted and it still stung.

Damon watched her out of the corner of his eye for a moment, trying to decide how to continue this conversation without causing more damage.

"Yes. Instead you spent your eighteenth birthday sitting in your missing vampire boyfriend's bedroom reading his journals and moping." Elena shoved Damon at that comment, glaring at him. Clearly he'd taken the wrong approach but this was Damon he was going to go with it anyway.

"No I-"

At her attempt at a protest, Damon raised an eyebrow at her. There was no way she could deny that considering how he'd found her. And considering she'd been doing the same thing all summer so it wasn't anything new.

"Fine. But can you blame me? We had so many plans for tonight and for this year and he's just gone. I can't help it."

"Yes you can, Elena. Summer is nearly over and you need to accept that he is gone. This isn't acceptance. You're in denial. Stefan is gone!" Damon felt Elena tense up next to him and bit his tongue for a moment. He hadn't meant to snap at her and he had just had a few drinks at the party but nevertheless he knew he needed to say it.

Elena moved away from Damon and stood up, facing him with a frustrated look on her face.

"I'm not in denial. Is it so wrong for me to miss him? He left without goodbye and now he's off with Klaus doing God-knows-what and you and I both know he is going to be a mess when he comes home-"

"Elena! He is not. coming. home. You need to stop okay? Just stop. Stop waiting and stop hoping and stop making everything worse than it is. Just accept it and move on. Stefan left and he isn't coming home. He made that decision. Now we need to make ours. And that means moving on." Damon jumped up and walked towards her, getting much closer than he had intended as he raised his voice at her. This whole act was getting a little tiring now.

The two of them stared at each other for a tense moment, both breathing heavily as their anger sat between them. Elena narrowed her eyes at Damon as he finally finished ranting, her mind freezing as she realised how close they were.

"You just don't get it." She said finally, her voice softer as she took a step back. Damon raised an eyebrow and scoffed at her, cutting her off before she could go on.

"I don't get it? What because he's not the 'love of my life'? No, he's only my brother who _did_ this for me - to save me. No, of course I don't get it. You know what? Get over yourself Elena. Stop making this all about you. There are other people hurting too." Damon stepped towards her again and gave her a long look before striding out of the bedroom and closing the door with a slam, leaving Elena frozen on the spot.

Elena finally emerged from Damon's bedroom about half an hour later after finally managing to recover from Damon's outburst. While she was still fuming at his accusations, she knew part of what he had said was true. She needed to remember that Damon was Stefan's brother and he was probably missing Stefan just as much as she was. Although sometimes it was hard to remember that Damon even had a heart underneath all of those sarcastic comments.

Biting her lip, Elena quietly wound her way down the staircase and into the entrance hall of the Salvatore boarding house. The house seemed eerily quiet now and Elena wondered if Damon had left.

"I'm in here." Elena jumped slightly at the voice but a few steps around the corner allowed her to spot Damon sitting staring at the fire in the living room, a half-empty glass of bourbon in his hand. Elena fought to keep a small smile from slipping up her lips as she moved towards him. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say though. Was he expecting an apology? Was he going to apologise? Why did everything between them now have to be so complicated?

Before Elena could make a decision on any of these questions, there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it." Elena murmured, not looking at Damon. It was most likely Alaric who made habit of dropping by at the most tense moments. Heaving the front door open, Elena stepped back in surprise. This was definitely not Alaric.


	3. dead cell phones and confrontations

**DISLCAIMER:** _any characters or plotlines that you recognise are obviously not mine. this is my interpretation of how season 3 could have been. i will be incorporating elements that the TVD writers wrote in but they will have my own twist on them. but yeah. obviously tvd is not mine or i would not be sitting here writing this._

* * *

><p><strong>dead cell phones and confrontations<br>**

**Chapter**

"Hi." The strange girl gave a hesitant smile as she looked up at Elena.

"Uh, can I help you?" Elena held onto the door with one hand, closing it slightly out of habit. She was so used to strange vampires rocking up and barging in the second they could that she couldn't help it now.

"Yeah actually. My god, this is so embarrassing but um…Okay so I was trying to be all spontaneous and stuff and surprise my boyfriend 'cause he lives like an hour away and I just ran out of gas like mid-trip. I was just wondering do you have like a phone I can use or something? I was all ready to call my mom and then my cell died; just topping off the perfect plan."

The girl spoke all in one breath, her eyes widening as she got faster and faster before finishing with a flourish of hands as she looked expectantly at Elena. It took Elena a moment to process everything the girl had just said before nodding.

"Yeah sure, I'll just grab my phone." But before she could turn away, the girl spoke again.

"Oh and this may seem kind of weird but would I be able to use your toilet? Three hour drive and a crapload of Red Bull to keep me awake was a bad idea." The girl laughed easily at herself, giving Elena a pathetic look as she did so.

Elena nearly caught herself saying 'sure come in' but stopped just in time. You could never be too careful even if the girl did look honest enough.

"Sure, it's just upstairs to the left." Elena flashed a smile before turning away. The girl didn't move. Aha. Elena's suspicions rose immediately and she paused.

"You sure you don't mind? I don't want to like intrude or whatever." The girl gripped the doorframe, leaning forward slightly but not stepping forward. Elena bit back a tell-tale smirk slipping up her face, and spoke again.

"No sure, it's totally fine." She had still carefully avoided actually saying the magic words.

Finally the girl let out a huff of annoyance. There was the reaction Elena had been waiting for. She turned around and watched the girl slowly step back away from the door with her eyes stuck on Elena.

"Well I was trying to play nice here but if you insist…" The girl shrugged her shoulders before taking a slow breath as her eyes slowly transformed and turned red, the veins pushing up around her sockets as she widened her jaw to reveal a set of full vampire fangs. If Elena wasn't already used to Stefan and Damon doing this, as well as other vampires she'd come across, she would have been terrified. None the less it was still a bit confronting. She was about to yell out to Damon when she was stopped.

"Nicole?"

Elena whirled her head around to see Damon walking up behind her, a confused yet pleased look on his face. The girl immediately switched back, her fangs disappearing as she grinned up at the tall dark vampire.

"Damon!" she squealed, a sound that sound severely out of place on the petite vampire who had been slightly terrifying only a minute ago. "Ugh, thank god you're home!" She leaned against the doorframe and grinned at Elena and Damon.

Damon smiled back at her before raising an eyebrow.

"So, trying to get invited in, eh?" he asked with a smirk as Nicole bowed her head in mock-embarrassment.

"Well I tried to sneak in before but looks like someone had the deed of the house changed without notifying their BFF." Nicole shrugged and folded her arms, cocking her head at Damon.

"Yeah, well you disappear for a decade and things change." Damon shrugged right back. Elena watched this exchange with an uneasy expression on her face and stepped back, basically unnoticed by the two old friends. How had Damon never mentioned this 'Nicole' before? Elena knew that Damon had his secrets, just like Stefan had his, but surely if he and this girl were on such good terms he would have brought her name up at least once.

"So…you going to finally let me in or what?" Nicole finally asked, pushing off from the doorframe and raising an eyebrow.

All of a sudden Elena noticed a change in Damon. He immediately went from super friendly to a little on the wary side. Well maybe this answered her question.

"Well you know I would, but as you said we have a history. And you don't exactly have the best track record." There it was. But of course he wasn't going to expand on that with Elena in front of him. He glanced side-ways at her and she gave a pointed look at him, letting him know he needed to elaborate. He just eyed her back before turning back to Nicole who had paused for a moment, licking her lips. She ran a hand through her long brown hair before speaking.

"Augh, you are such a grudge-holder. I apologised, you know I'm sorry for all that crap." She hesitated for a moment before widening her eyes as though she had just remembered something.

"Oh, and totally almost forgot. Stefan says hi."

There was a dead silence for a minute as her words sunk into Elena and Damon's ears. Stefan. This girl had been in contact with Stefan when no one else could find him. Elena glanced at Damon who had stiffened as he studied Nicole, trying to judge her honesty.

"Come in." he finally said in a strained voice. Nicole beamed, an action that seemed almost mocking in Elena's eyes, and made an exaggerated step inside the house.

"Why thank you!" She gave a little twirl as she moved into the lounge room and looked around. "Wow, it's like exactly the same. Would it kill you to shake things up a bit? Even a goddamn new couch or curtains or something?" Nicole winked at Damon who was still standing at the door with Elena watching her warily.

"Well if I did you wouldn't be able to make the same exact comments that you make every time you drop around and then you'd be complaining about that." Damon folded his arms as he stepped over towards her, leaving Elena to slowly close the front door. "Now, Stefan. Spill."

Nicole had other plans though. She watched Elena closing the door and then moving into the lounge room. The small vampire studied her for a moment before smiling. "So I am sorry about my little scary moment before. And I also apologise on Damon's behalf-" Damon glared at her in confusion and opened his mouth in protest but Nicole deftly finished her sentence before he could speak, "-since he was incredibly rude and failed to introduce me. I'm Nicole. Or rather Nicoleta but no one calls me that anymore." Nicole stuck a slender hand out towards Elena, looking at her expectantly.

"Elena." Elena said simply, reluctantly extending her own hand out to shake Nicole's briefly. She let go quickly though and dropped her hand back to her side. Nicole seemed to find this amusing and gave a small smirk as she turned away and skipped over to the couch in front of the fire, flopping her body onto it gracefully.

Damon gave a small cough as Nicole got herself comfortable. "Well. We let you in. Now what do you know about Stefan."

Nicole tipped her head back to look at Damon. "Well. I know that he said hi. Or at least I'm sure he would have if he hadn't been busy killing that baby."

Elena's eyes widened in horror and she looked over to Damon whose face remained emotionless.

"Oh, I'm kidding for Christ sake. He didn't kill a baby. Not when I saw him anyway. Nah, I ran into him and we said hi and then he told me to piss off. Very charming brother you have there. Have you been giving him lessons in manners?" Damon smirked back at Nicole, crossing the room to stand in front of the fireplace so he could see her properly. Elena however remained near the doorway, watching the pair with unease. Something about this girl didn't feel right. But the mention of Stefan did have her intrigued.

"How did he look?" she asked softly, causing the other two to look over at her. Nicole opened her mouth to give a snarky remark but upon catching the concern in Elena's eyes, she let out a sigh and shrugged.

"He looked a lot different than how I last saw him. But very similar to how he was once. I wish that was a good thing but…" she shrugged. So Elena could easily gather that she had obviously known Stefan in his ripper days.

"Look, he isn't terrible. He's…content. He's coping and he will be okay, if that helps at all." Nicole drew her knees to her chest and hugged them, giving Elena a small smile.

"Ugh. This talk of Stefan is depressing me. I need a drink." Damon moved away from the fireplace and headed to the doorway, intent on going downstairs to get a blood bag. Turning to Nicole he raised an eyebrow. "You need anything?" he asked.

Nicole shook her head, giving a brief laugh. "Nah, I'll be fine. Had a drink on the way here." She winked at Damon who pursed his lips before turning around the corner, leaving Elena alone with this new vampire. Great. Elena moved over to one of the empty chairs near the couch and sat down gingerly, her eyes on the fireplace as she tried to relax.

"So you're Stefan's girl." Elena's head snapped up to look at Nicole who was watching Elena, waiting for some kind of reaction.

"How do you know Stefan and Damon?" Elena asked back, ignoring the statement. She watched as Nicole leaned back on the couch, her hands relaxing around her knees as she sighed.

"Oh wow. How do I know the Salvatore boys? Well that's a long story. It started about eighty years ago when I was lurking around New York at night and I spotted this tall dark handsome stranger doing the same…"

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><p><strong>AN: **_hey lovely readers! sorry this chapter is a bit later than the last and i ended it on a slightly less climactic note. but flashback chapter tomorrow! it will be less lame than the episodes tend to be, at least i hope hehe. anyway don't forget to read and review! :)_


	4. flashbacks and fierce bitches

**A/N: **I know, I know, this is slightly later than I had intended but as you will notice it is also a lot longer than the last few chapters. Anyway the plot should pick up properly very soon so keep reading! And don't forget to review :)

**DISLCAIMER:** _any characters or plotlines that you recognise are obviously not mine. this is my interpretation of how season 3 could have been. i will be incorporating elements that the TVD writers wrote in but they will have my own twist on them. but yeah. obviously tvd is not mine or i would not be sitting here writing this._

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><p><strong>flashbacks and fearless bitches<strong>

**CHAPTER 4:**

**New York, June 23rd 1930:**

Nicole didn't usually consider herself to be the type to lurk around parks late at night. She may be one of the undead but she was quite a lively one, if you can pardon the pun. Despite looking young, she always found a way to get inside the bars and was quite the life of the party. That was one of the perks of being a vampire. Compulsion definitely came in handy when it came to looking as young as she did.

Still that fateful night, the petite vampire found herself slowly strolling around Central Park in the middle of New York City, completely alone. It was fairly late at night; the large clock outside told her it was about two o'clock in the morning and the streets were quite deserted apart from a few drunk stragglers and the odd taxi veering around the corners.

It took Nicole a few laps around the park before she realised she wasn't as alone as she initially assumed however. Honestly, you'd think her vampire senses would have picked up something but she supposed she had been too immersed in her thoughts to notice. Eventually she did feel someone watching her and a brief glance around led her eyes to a dark-haired man leaning against a nearby tree, his eyes trained on her. Nicole judged that he was probably mid-twenties. He didn't seem to notice that she had spotted him yet as he was still watching her without any shame. Hello, he was watching a young girl in the dark. Creepy.

Biting her lip in anticipation, Nicole used her vampire speed to rush over towards him until she was standing directly behind his shoulder. Usually she wasn't this careless with her vampire powers but whatever. This guy would just assume he was drunk. Or maybe he really was. Who just went to the park in the middle of the night to watch people?

"You do realise you are standing in the dark watching a young girl which is borderline paedophile behaviour…" she raised an eyebrow at him. The man glanced down, barely even battering an eyelash as he responded right back.

"You do realise you are wandering the parks of NYC alone which is kind of asking for it." Nicole let out a bark of laughter.

"Wow that's nice."

The older man rolled his eyes at that. "Aw, did the big bad man upset you?" He pouted at Nicole mockingly. Ugh there was nothing she hated more than being mocked. Please. She was a vampire for Christ's sake. This guy clearly had no idea who he was dealing with.

Now it was Nicole's turn to roll her eyes.

"Oh shut up. I'm not scared of you-"

Before Nicole could finish her sentence she found herself pinned against the tree, the man's hand wrapped around her throat tightly. The action probably would have made Nicole choke if she needed to breathe. But she didn't, so instead she let his hand remain there as she watched him with an air of boredom.

"It's dangerous to speed around like you did before. We vampires can't go around showing of like that. Someone might notice and suspect something." Nicole rolled her eyes again. So he was a vampire too. She wasn't even surprised at that knowledge and she wondered if he thought he was revealing some big secret. Clearly he was or he would have reacted a lot quicker to her super speed.

"So I'll compel them. We can do that to, as you should know." Nicole delicately lifted her hand and removed the man's hand from her neck. He nodded courteously as he dropped it to his side and stepped back.

"I think it would be best you don't attract too much attention to yourself regardless. We vampires are few and there may be other vampires around who are less friendly and they might see you as a threat." His words were an odd choice and to be honest Nicole zoned out for a moment, nodding boredly. She didn't care about other vampires. It was the humans she focused on.

"Whatever. You're boring me now. And you haven't introduced yourself. Surely a man like you should have _some_ manners."

"Damon. Damon Salvatore." Nicole's eyes widened in the slightest but she controlled them just as quickly so it was hardly even noticeable. She thought he had looked familiar. Not that he would recognise her.

"Nicoleta. That's all you need to know." She said, reaching out a hand for him to take. He did so, kissing the back of her hand politely before dropping it.

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><p><strong>Mystic Falls June 22nd 2011:<strong>

"So you've known him for that long? He's never even mentioned you at all though…" Elena interrupted, trailing off as Nicole, or rather Nicoleta, glared at her.

"Oh my God I'm not even half way finished. I'll get to that drama later. Or you can ask him and see what his version is. I'm sure it's much more dramatic and heart-breaking. His versions always are." Nicole rolled her eyes.

It struck Elena now that Nicole clearly knew Damon well if she knew of other incidents. This only made her all the more curious. It wasn't new information that Elena did not like secrets, although her own secrets were another story. But why had Damon never mentioned Nicole if he knew her so well? Elena struggled to even comprehend the idea of Damon having friends before she met him.

Closing her mouth and miming zipping it, she leaned back and looked at Nicole expectantly, waiting for her to continue. Nicole barely hesitated before falling back into her story.

"So as I was saying, we basically hung out for the rest of the night and then we kept hanging out after that and I guess we became friends eventually. We didn't really have anyone else but each other. He kind of became like a big brother to me." Nicole gave a wistful smile, her mind going back to the past. Elena watched her, almost jealous for some irrational reason.

"What about Stefan though?" she couldn't help asking. "Damon has been following Stefan around ever since they turned. You must have known him back then too right?"

"Oh yes. Where Damon goes, Stefan is never too far. Or I suppose it's vice versa really but whatever. You've clearly done your research. I got to meet the old ripper Stefan, I'm sure you're aware of that side of him by now," Nicole gave Elena a sideways glance before continuing. "So I listened to Damon whine about his sad life for about a month before I got to meet your boy."

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><p><strong>Chicago July 30th 1930:<strong>

"I mean I just know the longer I wait the longer she'll be stuck in that tomb rotting and I just need to save her, you know? Nicoleta isn't that just really sad?" Damon downed another glass of whiskey as he looked sorrowfully at Nicole who was sitting on the kitchen bench of Damon's hotel room, swinging her legs on the bench as she took another drink as well.

"Yes Damon. You've told me this heart-wrenching love story over twenty times now. I understand completely. But come on, quit being boring! Let's go out and have some fun! Find some floozies and lacrosse players to play with." Slamming her glass beside her, Nicole leaped off the bench and clapped her hands eagerly. At Damon's reluctance to move from his bench chair, she tugged on his arm slightly.

He let out a groan as he slowly stood up, still clutching his empty glass like a child clutching a blanket. "But alcohol." He said pitifully. Nicole rolled her eyes and took the glass from him, ignoring the protests spilling out of Damon.

"Get your act together. You are a sexy seductive vampire who is out to save some young ditz from heartbreak by simply breaking her entirely. You cannot be a drunk whining mess. Plus I have a smoking hot dress I need to show off." That seemed to wake the dark haired vampire up slightly and he shook his head a few times to clear his foggy mind as Nicole skipped off to slip into her new dress.

The chosen nightclub was more than easy to get into. Damon simply compelled the man at the door and Nicole breezed through without any questions. They wandered around, mingling with a variety of people and silently picking out their victims for the night. It was fairly easy picking, Nicole had to admit.

As she wandered up to approach a young man who seemed to be almost as intoxicated as Damon, she was cut off by a man with light brown hair, almost bronze, standing in her way.

"Well, you look a little young to be in a place like this." He said smoothly.

"And you just stood in my way which means you look a little low in manners. Now that we've established that, goodbye." Nicole said with a smirk, attempting to side-step the man. However he clearly had other plans and once again he was in her way.

Letting out a huff of annoyance, Nicole stepped back and looked at the man expectantly. "Can I help you?"

"Pardon me for my rudeness. It's just I've been watching you and I felt the need to talk to you. Perhaps we could step outside and get some fresh air and talk?"

Nicole lifted an eyebrow at him. So he was either a serial killer, a rapist or another vampire since she tended to use the same line to get her victims out of the clubs. So really he could be all three at the same time. Before she could give a snarky reply, she heard a voice behind her.

"Brother, what are you doing here?" Nicole whipped her head around to see Damon giving a glare to the man in front of her.

"Ah Damon, enjoying yourself? I was just chatting to the lovely…" Damon's brother glanced over at Nicole as he trailed off.

"Her name is Nicoleta. And she's not going anywhere with you." Damon cut Nicole off and her eyes widened slightly.

"Excuse you Mister, I make my own decisions about who I chat to. Besides, you didn't mention your brother."

The other Salvatore extended a hand. "Stefan. Stefan Salvatore. Don't mind Damon. He doesn't know how to share."

"Says you." Damon muttered under his breath bitterly. Nicole ignored both snarky comments and accepted Stefan's hand, allowing him to kiss the back of her own hand politely, much like his brother had only a month ago. They were nothing if not related.

"So Stefan Salvatore. Another Salvatore vampire are you?" Stefan bowed his head in confirmation. "I figured as such. What a lucky family you boys have. I must warn you though, that line about stepping outside is terribly overdone. I should know." Nicole winked at Stefan. He seemed to easily realise that she too was one of the undead and chuckled.

"Well we do what we have to do. As long as it works I see no problems. And if you'll excuse me I think I've found supper." Stefan bowed politely to Nicole and patted Damon on the shoulder before strolling over to another young girl, this one blonde and looking slightly tipsy. Nicole noticed that later on that night when she saw Stefan, the girl from before had disappeared unsurprisingly.

* * *

><p><strong>Mystic Falls, June 22nd 2011:<strong>

"So I guess once I knew them both, they just couldn't get enough of me. I tended to hang out with Stefan a bit more at that point since he was more fun and less lovesick. And by fun I mean full-blown ripper. I mean he was just crazy-"

Nicole cut off her story as Elena let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. The brunette was looking slightly ill as she tried to wrap her head around this completely different side to Stefan. Sure, she'd heard from Katherine that he had given himself up and she'd seen him at his lowest points but to know that he had been lower and had no issue with it, in fact he had embraced his ripper self, was a lot to take in.

"Well that basically sums up how I met the Salvatore bros." Nicole wrapped up her story awkwardly. She wasn't completely insensitive and she didn't want to completely break this girl. Elena gave her a grateful smile.

"Thanks. So wow, you've known both of them for ages." she ran her hands through her long hair as she spoke, her mind still whirling with all the new details and questions.

"Giving Elena the whole story are you?" The girls both turned to see Damon standing at the doorway, bloodbag in hand. Nicole smiled up at him and shook her head.

"No, just the introductions. I'll leave the dramatics to you. Now if you don't mind I travelled a fair distance and I feel gross so I'm going to use your shower." With a winning smile to Elena and a smirk at Damon, Nicole sped up around the corner and upstairs, leaving Elena and Damon to look at each other.

"Well " Damon shrugged at Elena as he sat in Nicole's spot, letting out a sigh. This wasn't how he had planned the night at all, but this was Nicole. She didn't go by the book.

"So...are you going to give me the full story yet?" Elena asked, determined to find out whatever the two vampires were keeping from her.

"Oh no. That story is too depressing to be told on your birthday. We'll save that for later."

And once again Elena remained in the dark, another secret out of reach. Brilliant.

Happy Birthday Elena Gilbert, the girl no one trusted with their mysterious secrets.


	5. lies and lingering questions

**A/N:** oh wow so this is super long overdue and i am incredibly sorry for what a ridiculously late update this is! year twelve was incredibly overwhelming and last year i just couldn't find any creative juice in me, or any time to even think about writing. but i'm trying to get back into it because i have really exciting plans for this story! not the most thrilling chapter but things will be picking up, i promise!

**DISLCAIMER:** _any characters or plotlines that you recognise are obviously not mine. this is my interpretation of how season 3 could have been. i will be incorporating elements that the TVD writers wrote in but they will have my own twist on them. but yeah. obviously tvd is not mine or i would not be sitting here writing this._

* * *

><p><strong>lies and lingering questions<strong>

It seemed like Nicole had been around forever once she managed to settle herself into the Salvatore mansion. She weaved herself into Damon's routine seamlessly as if she had been part of it all along. It unnerved Elena to watch her lounging in front of the fire and cooking dinner alongside Damon who didn't bat an eyelash. Elena supposed she wasn't used to seeing Damon look so comfortable with someone he wasn't sleeping with, besides herself.

That thought only led to more worrying thoughts. As Nicole and Damon argued over which pasta sauce to accompany their complex dinner meal, Elena watched them closely. Had they ever slept together? Nicole had mentioned that Damon was like a brother but she could have just been saying that as a brush-off comment. Not that it mattered. But the possibility did stir up some conflicting feelings in Elena that she really wasn't ready to deal with quite yet. She had no business worrying over who or what Damon hooked up with. It didn't have anything to do with her.

Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, Elena drew her focus back to the present as Damon and Nicole bantered away.

"So what have I missed since my last vay-cay to Mystic Falls?" Nicole asked Damon, bumping her hip against his. Damon chuckled, bumping her hip right back, the relaxed expression on his face slightly jarring Elena again. How could he be close to this girl and never mention her name? Elena's brow furrowed as the thought returned to her mind but she shook it off as another question to ask Damon later on.

"Well it's been several decades since you were here so I can assure you, quite a lot has changed around here." Damon raised an eyebrow at Elena with a smirk that she couldn't help return, despite her annoyance at her own lack of understanding. She had to agree, a lot had changed in Mystic Falls even in the last three years much less the last decade. They'd had vampires, werewolves, witches and not to forget Original vampires. It seemed like Mystic Falls was the new hot spot for all of the non-human species running around. Elena remained surprised about the amount of normal people around town who still walked around town with no idea how much danger was lurking right under their noses.

"So care to give me some details then? What's the latest town gossip? What big party drama went down when I was away? Did you almost blow your cover yet again? And where the heck is Uncle Zackie?" Nicole fired out several questions, waving her chopping knife dangerously close to Damon's nose as she raised an eyebrow with a smirk sitting on her lips.

Damon was silent for a brief second and Elena opened her mouth to elaborate on Damon's vague answer to Nicole's question but before she could even get a syllable out Damon shot her a look before playfully batting Nicole's knife away.

"Well it would take too long to tell you everything but yes, unfortunately Uncle Zack is no longer with us." Elena frowned ever so slightly as Damon glanced back at her as if to tell her to keep her mouth shut. So he was going to pretend there weren't werewolves and witches and originals running around town? For someone who seemed to be so close to Nicole, Damon was keeping an awful amount of things from her and he was definitely keeping his distance. Another thing to interrogate Damon on later, Elena supposed.

Nicole feigned a pout, the tomato she had been chopping left abandoned. "Went for an extended holiday?"

Damon turned back to the pasta bubbling away in the pot and simply nodded. "Something like that. He uh, well we had a bit of a disagreement and he decided to get away for awhile."

Nicole winked at Elena and gave a slow nod of understanding. " Ah, of course. Well I certainly don't miss his judgey-presence. 'Nicoleta you need to be careful in this town, Nicoleta please see reason, Nicoleta you are being irrational, Nicoleta please don't eat me', God he was such a bore. And he was such a bad influence on Stefan." Nicole dropped her mocking tone of Zack Salvatore and rolled her eyes. She had given up on helping Damon in the kitchen now and sauntered over to sit on the table next to Elena. Elena couldn't help feeling a little intimidated by Nicole hovering above her, and subtly edged away from the table slightly to give herself some space.

Elena had temporarily forgotten that subtly rarely worked in the presence of vampires.

Nicole smirked at her as she swung her legs across the table to face Damon in the kitchen. "Sorry love, I have a compulsive need to tower over people whenever I get the chance."

"That's because you're freakishly tiny so you should take every chance you can." Damon quipped from where he stood at the stove, his eyes on the pasta bubbling away.

"Hush you. You just focus on feeding your young human here." Nicole said back, winking at Elena as if they were a part of some inside joke together. Not wanting to get on the new vampire's bad side, Elena gave a weak smile back. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

><p>After dinner Elena ended up lounging on one of the large armchairs in the Salvatore mansion's living room with Nicole and Damon on the couch with Nicole's legs slung over Damon's lap the way Elena had done many times. A hint of jealousy pushed at Elena's mind but she quickly pushed it away. She had nothing to be jealous about. Nicole and Damon were old friends and of course they could sit however they liked. Not to mention there was nothing even going on between Elena and Damon so really she had no right to even feel jealous. She was still with Stefan. Sort of. Maybe.<p>

"Elena? You still with us?" Damon's voice broke Elena out of her confusing thoughts. She drew her eyes back to him and gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Sorry, just…thinking about him." Elena said softly, hugging her arms to her chest and quickly pulling her eyes from Damon's before she could catch his reaction.

The trio were silent for a moment. Damon's mind flew back to the argument only hours ago and decided not to push it again. He had been worried for Elena's safety when she hadn't been at the party, which had caused him to be a little harsher than he intended. He watched Elena for a moment, observing the way her smile faded as soon as she dropped her gaze from his.

Nicole held her silence for a moment too, flicking her gaze between Damon and Elena. She let the despondent silence sit for a moment until finally opening her mouth. She glanced at Damon for a second though, hesitating before speaking.

"So…speaking of missing soulmates and all that, Damon did you ever find Miss Katherine? A.k.a the love of _your_ life?" She raised an eyebrow and wiggled her legs on Damon's lap to gain his attention. His eyes snapped to hers as soon as she mentioned Katherine but he remained speechless for a moment.

Elena perked back up at the new question wondering how on earth Damon was going to explain that story.

"Well. I found her." Damon finally said, keeping his eyes trained on the fire flickering in the fireplace.

"And…? Come on, I listened to you for several decades pining after this chick and that's all I get?" Nicole wiggled her legs on Damon's lap, pouting at him when he gave no reaction.

"Damoooooooooooon. Give me the goss! Did she fling herself on you or totally blow you off? Are you married now and she's a total Stepford wife? Is she super controlling? Is she cheating on you with a werewolf? Or a human?" Nicole seemed to have no regards asking these questions with no concern over Damon's feelings, something that ticked Elena off a little. She really had no tact.

"She chose Stefan." Damon's words were short and blunt and reminded Elena all over again of how crushed Damon had been when he found out. And how guilty she had felt for choosing Stefan as well. Damon didn't give either girl a chance to speak, throwing Nicole's legs off from his lap as he stood up and strode out of the room without another word.

Nicole watched him leave without speaking, a strange expression on her face, almost as if she had been expecting exactly that.

"You…you don't seem surprised." Elena stated, tilting her head to watch Nicole curiously. She wasn't sure why this confused her so much but surely if Nicole knew Damon's obsession with Katherine she would be a little more surprised to hear of his complete rejection, or at least a little more sympathetic rather than sitting in silence. Nicole was quick to compose her face at Elena's words and shrugged.

"He was super desperate over her. It's not entirely unbelievable that she'd be freaked out over that. No offence but he can be a bit intense sometimes. He gets obsessive, as you can see. Plus Stefan is a total babe when he's not tearing people apart. You should know, you chose him too." Nicole's words stung slightly and Elena ducked her eyes to the floor. It wasn't like she'd deliberately tried to become Katherine, breaking Damon's heart the exact same way. She couldn't help the way she felt. But suddenly something struck Elena.

"Hang on, what to do you mean I chose Stefan too-"

But when Elena looked up to speak, Nicole had disappeared without a sound. But how had she known that Elena had 'chosen' too? Neither Damon or Elena had mentioned anything happening between them to Nicole and as far as Elena was aware they had barely even talked about Elena's relationship with either of the Salvatores. How had she known?

"Nicole?" Elena called out timidly, not even sure if she wanted to hear Nicole's perspective on that. But Nicole either didn't hear her or chose to ignore her call out, leaving Elena alone watching the fireplace flicker with flames as her own questions burned inside.

* * *

><p>"You're kidding me. You can't be serious."<p>

"Why not? I've done it hundreds of times before!"

"Well not here."

"Why not? You're planning on sticking around and maybe I want to settle here for a bit too."

"Absolutely not."

"Wha-?!"

Elena hovered around the corner of the hall for a moment, unable to stop herself from eavesdropping. She had barely slept last night with a thousand new bits of information floating around her mind and a thousand more questions she needed answered. When she finally awoke in Stefan's bedroom (Damon tried to make her move but she had been stubborn and he eventually gave in, leaving Nicole to take the guest room), she had wandered out into the hall to the sounds of an argument brewing in the kitchen.

Now standing around the corner, out of sight, Elena tried to decipher what Nicole and Damon were arguing about.

"You can't just waltz back into town and start going to school here. I'll just be stuck making up excuses for your sudden absence when you disappear in a month's time."

Ah, there was at least one answer Elena needed. With that information, she shuffled around the doorway into the kitchen, tugging down on her pyjama shorts, which were a lot shorter than she remembered.

"School doesn't go back for a while actually," she reminded the two vampires, breaking off her last word to give a big yawn. As she began preparing herself some toast she listened as Damon sighed loudly from his place at the kitchen table, a glass of bourbon already in his hand even at ten in the morning.

"See, no point enrolling you if you won't even be here by the time it starts."

Nicole, who was perched upon one of the counter seats and already dressed in a pair of black leggings and an oversized white tee with a picture of a wolf on it (did she realise the irony of that?), scoffed at Damon's words.

"Really? Who's to say that? Maybe I do plan on sticking around for a bit. I've been traveling for a while now. Time for a change."

Damon rolled his eyes at that. "You've never crashed with me for longer than a month. You can't stand living in one house for too long, much less a town. School doesn't go back until September. Reckon you can hold out that long?" he raised a sceptical eyebrow at Nicole.

Nicole glanced over at Elena for a long moment, almost like she knew more than she was letting on. She broke her gaze to look back at Damon as she slid off of the seat, heading out of the kitchen and towards the front door.

"Babe face it, I'm here and I don't plan on leaving just yet. You can bet on that." And with a wink, Nicole was out the door, leaving it to swing shut with a bang.

There was a moment of silence between Damon and Elena as they looked at each other, before her toast leaped out of the toaster with a loud pop, shattering the silence. Elena turned to the toast and grabbed it but as she glanced over her shoulder she caught a familiar expression on Damon's face. He looked worried. It was strikingly similar to the expression he had pulled when they had to deal with Katherine's drama last year.

Great.


	6. poor assumptions and pretty girls

**A/N:** Wow it's been a while since my last update, my bad! I just lost my motivation for this story after I stopped watching TVD somewhere in season 5 but I've slowly been tugged back into the show and somehow my muse for this returned too so yay! I still have big plans for this story and where it's going so bear with me!

**DISLCAIMER:** _any characters or plotlines that you recognise are obviously not mine. this is my interpretation of how season 3 could have been. i will be incorporating elements that the TVD writers wrote in but they will have my own twist on them. but yeah. obviously tvd is not mine or i would not be sitting here writing this._

* * *

><p>Jeremy Gilbert was having a pretty lousy morning so far. Elena had woken him up at six in the morning, insisting that they go for a run together just as they had last year before school started. It was a good way of getting used to the early school wake-ups to come. She had almost made up for it with her attempt to cook him breakfast but the bacon was burnt by the time he made it into the kitchen and they ended up just munching on the less-burnt toast instead.<p>

It was nice of Elena to bother though, but Jeremy supposed it was her way of making up for the fact that she had been spending a majority of her time these days in the Salvatore mansion, often overnight. Not that Jeremy minded being home alone. Ric came over frequently too now to check up on him and he tended to crash on the couch if Elena wasn't around. While it sucked to watch Elena lose her mind over the absence of her vampire boyfriend, Jeremy had to admit it was a little easier to breathe when she wasn't home. Whenever she was at home he found himself under intense interrogation over what he was doing and how he was spending his time. He got that she felt the need to step into a mother-type role but as a teenage boy he was beginning to wish Stefan had just taken Elena with him.

At least then he wouldn't be stuck with burnt toast, a lack of bacon on his plate and a brain still half asleep. Still, he knew that she meant well.

"Come on Jer! Stretch now or die of pain later." Jeremy finished rinsing his breakfast dishes and let out a loud suffering sigh as he made his way to the front door to find Elena leaning against it, already in the middle of stretching her calves. She gave him a wide grin as he joined her.

"It's literally six thirty and we haven't done this for months. Why today? Why did you give me zero warning?" Jeremy asked as he leaned into a lunge, already regretting this early morning routine that was only just beginning.

Elena didn't pause in her warm-up, twisting her torso around with arms stretched out. "Because I want to start this school year well. And I want you to do well too. We've both had a rough time lately and I want this year to be better." Jeremy halted mid-lunge and looked at his sister who was still fumbling over her words.

"You want to distract yourself from everything that's been happening. It's fine Elena. I get it. I need a good distraction too. Let's go." Jeremy carefully cut her off and gave her a light pat on her shoulder before leading the way out the door.

The run felt good, Jeremy had to admit. Elena may have been slightly crazy but she did have good ideas once in a while. They ran in silence mostly, both lost in their own thoughts, occasionally huffing out a snarky comment about the other's failure to keep up. For a run that was meant to help distract them Jeremy had to acknowledge that it wasn't doing a great job. Instead his mind refused to think about anything but the sole reason he was running.

Bonnie.

He knew it hadn't been a long relationship, not by a long shot. But Jeremy couldn't help falling hard and fast. They'd had one of the most honest relationships Jeremy had been involved in so far. For once he hadn't had to deal with the shock of realising he was dating a vampire, or the mourning of a dead vampire. Bonnie had been safe. She was Elena's best friend so the chance of her dying on him was incredibly low. Plus she had been into him too. It just wasn't meant to be. They were both too close to the vampire situation to ever have a real chance to explore their relationship. Not to mention in the summer that Jeremy had hoped to spend getting to know Bonnie properly, instead Bonnie had been on dutiful best friend duty trying her best to comfort Elena in the absence of Stefan.

Their relationship never really got a real chance and as a result Jeremy had found himself more and more frustrated. It sucked because he knew Bonnie understood his frustrations and felt them too; she just couldn't fix it. She couldn't leave Elena to grieve alone and Jeremy didn't want her to. He shouldn't have been surprised though. Vampires had a habit of ruining his relationships whether they were around or not. Stefan wasn't even in town and he managed to ruin Jeremy and Bonnie's chance of happiness.

Using his anger at all of the vampires in the world for apparently having something against Jeremy getting laid, he pushed through the pain in his muscles and pushed his legs to move faster, overtaking Elena. He ran as fast as his body would let him. He ran until he almost forgot about how much his life and the life of his friend sucked.

Almost.

But no matter how fast he ran he couldn't escape the fact that as long as he had Elena for a sister he was doomed to be surrounded by vampires and loneliness.

So he ran faster.

"I said I'm going to down to The Grill for lunch, do you wanna come?" Elena asked Jeremy for possibly the third time in a row, successfully managing to grab his attention away from his video game. He had been playing ever since they got back from their run. He glanced up with a frown as he took in her question before shaking his head.

"Nah, I'm good. Have fun with Damon." He said, his focus already returning back to his game. Elena froze for a moment in confusion. What the hell did he mean by that? She hadn't even mentioned Damon's name or indicated that she'd be going to see him. Anyway she was actually meeting Caroline there, not Damon, so where did that assumption come from? Elena contemplated correcting him but she knew, glancing over at him, that there was no way he'd hear anything else she said now.

Elena pondered on this as she walked along to the Grill. She didn't know why Jeremy's assumption bugged her so much but it was still on her mind when she accidentally walked straight into Caroline herself.

"Woah there, earth to Elena!" Caroline's shrill voice rang out, breaking Elena out of her thoughts.

"Sorry." Elena sighed, shaking her head and following Caroline over to a spare table. Caroline waved to over towards the bar at Matt who waved back and held up a finger as he leaned over the counter to grab his notepad and pen.

"So, what's on your mind?" Caroline asked as they settled into their seats and waited for Matt to come and take their orders. As soon as she finished speaking she closed her eyes, her apparent realisation written all over her face. "Wait. Duh. Sorry, of course. Stefan." She bit her lower lip and gazed across the table at Elena, the same sympathetic pitying expression on her face that had been sitting there ever since Stefan left.

Elena quickly shook her head. "No, it's not Stefan. I mean, not right now. Its just Jeremy. He made some weird comment about Damon out of no where and it was just…weird." Elena trailed off lamely.

Caroline frowned for a moment. She opened her mouth to speak but right before she could respond, Matt appeared at the table, his usual grin ever present on his face.

"Hey, what will it be ladies?" he asked, pen ready to jot down their orders.

Caroline closed her mouth and tilted her head in thought. "Do I have a usual? Matt, I am here all the time. What's my usual?"

Matt thought for a minute. "Um, sorry Care, you don't really have a usual. If you want a usual you need to order it more than three times."

Caroline let out a huff. "That's ridiculous. In the case just give me water and a burger with extra onion rings. No cheese." There was a distinct pout on her lips as she leaned back in her chair, arms folded. Matt bit back a laugh as he wrote it down and looked over at Elena who was also fighting to keep a straight face.

"Just a lemonade for now thanks, Matty," she managed to get out before a giggle could escape. Matt nodded and hurried off, shaking his head in amusement.

"I so have a usual." Caroline muttered to herself, watching Matt as he walked off. After another moment of glaring she turned back to Elena abruptly.

"So Jeremy? Damon? Elaborate."

Elena sighed. "It's not even a big deal, Care. I just told Jeremy I was coming here for lunch and I asked if he wanted to come so he could chat to Matt and I don't know, get out of the house more. But he said no and then out of the blue he told me to have fun with Damon. I didn't even mention Damon! It was just completely random and I don't get why he just automatically assumed Damon was with me.." Elena spilled out, resting her head in one hand. Another thought struck her as she trailed off though.

"And even just a few days ago when I was at Stefan's house, Nicole said something about me choosing Stefan, like I had chosen him over Damon but that's ridiculous…" Elena stared off toward the bar where Matt was loading the girls' drinks onto a tray to bring over as Caroline stared at her in silence, taking her words all in. Elena glanced back just in time to catch a half amused, half frustrated expression crossing over Caroline's

"Firstly, Jeremy's comment was not out of a blue. You have been spending a lot of time with Damon. Like a lot. Like I-was-preparing-an-intervention a lot. And I know you're at his house because you miss Stefan and you want to be close to him somehow, but the fact is that you have been spending a lot of your time with Damon. No wonder Jeremy is suspicious. You know he doesn't particularly like Damon so he's probably just trying to be a protective brother. And like I said, you can't blame him for making assumptions. Secondly, who the hell is Nicole?"

Caroline raised an eyebrow at Elena.

"I'm one of Elena's friends. She hasn't mentioned me?"

Jeremy frowned at the girl standing on the front porch. "Uh no. I don't think she's said anything about a Nicole…" Jeremy knew the routine when he was approached with strangers on the porch and kept his eyes on high alert. There was usually a high chance that the stranger was a vampire looking to attack someone in the house, or looking to use the Gilberts to bribe the vampires in town. This girl looked pretty normal and human at a first glance but Jeremy remembered how normal Anna and Vicki had both seemed. Still, the girl hadn't tried to manipulate her way inside yet and there were no sign of fangs or bloodlusted eyes yet.

"Well I guess we only started talking properly recently so that's probably why. I mean she crashed at my house the other night so it's not like I'm a stranger to her or anything." The girl, Nicole, flashed him a smile, looking up through her eyelashes with a shrug.

Jeremy could have sworn Elena had spent the last few weeks hanging out at the Salvatore residence with Damon, but she hadn't always explicitly said so. Maybe Nicole was telling the truth after all. She did look vaguely familiar somehow as though he'd seen her face or someone who looked similar enough before.

When Jeremy didn't move or go to let her in, Nicole tilted her head, looking through her lashes again. "So is she around at all? She accidentally wore my jacket when she was over the other night and I forgot to get it back so I thought I'd come and pick it up again."

Jeremy looked behind him up towards the staircase. This felt like some kind of ploy to get inside. He knew the way that vampires worked, sneaking an invitation to enter without you even realising it. His numerous encounters with vampires had taught him many ways to avoid this.

"Actually she's gone out today but if you want it right now I can go grab it for you. What does it look like?" he asked, watching for any sign of frustration from Nicole. He got none. Instead her smile widened as she nodded eagerly.

"Yeah that would be great if you could. It's a Myrtle green coloured blazer with a bunch of big black button things on one side." She clasped her hands together with a smile, as if whatever she just said was supposed to make sense.

"Great, so green with black buttons. I'll see if I can find it." Jeremy gave her a thumbs up and leaped up the stairs three at a time, leaving the door wide open. If she was inside when he came back then he would know she was human. If she was still waiting outside she was probably a vampire, or she was just really polite.

After scanning Elena's room from the doorway and failing to spot anything remotely green, Jeremy sighed. He didn't really go into Elena's room much, especially if she wasn't there. It was just an unspoken rule between them that they tried to respect each other's privacies unless it was an emergency. He supposed that some girls considered clothing to be an emergency, so with his actions now justified he hesitantly stepped inside.

"Can you see it?" he heard Nicole call out hopefully from somewhere downstairs.

"Not yet! Just having a look!" he called back, trying to peg where her voice had come from. It sounded like she was still outside possibly.

"It's really cute if that helps!" Jeremy bit back a small chuckle and shook his head, not bothering to reply as he hovered awkwardly around Elena's numerous piles of clothes. Nothing seemed to match the description Nicole had given him. Had Elena been wearing green when she went out today? Suddenly Jeremy found himself wishing he took more notice of these things.

"Anything?" Nicole gave another shout up.

"Nope! I can't see it in here at all…" Jeremy edged backwards towards the doorway again, his eyes scanning around trying to see if he missed a corner of mess. He knew he didn't know Nicole at all but he felt like he wanted to help her. What if she needed to wear this jacket to some important event today? She wouldn't have come all this way otherwise. Why did Elena insist on letting her room get so messy?

"Do you want me to see if I can find it?" Jeremy was still mid-scan as he heard Nicole call up again. She almost sounded closer than before and he wondered if she was actually inside after all.

He stepped into the hallway and glanced downstairs. Nope, she was still hovering at the edge of the front door. Jeremy's suspicions rose and he remained where he was, leaning against the stair rail.

"Sure, you can have a look if you want," he offered. He watched her carefully, knowing that his careful selection of words wouldn't allow a vampire to enter. She seemed to catch his wary vibe and a small bashful smile slipped up her mouth.

"Sorry I'm just hovering awkwardly. I didn't just want to walk into your house and end up like knocking over some precious family vase or something. Bit of a klutz I guess. " She shrugged, biting her lip. "Are you sure it's okay for me to look? I don't want to be too annoying. I can just come back for it later when she's home."

Suddenly Jeremy felt kind of bad for her for coming all the way over just to end up leaving without what she came for. It wasn't her fault he was clueless about girl's clothes, or for Elena's messy bedroom that made it impossible to find anything. "Nah its no trouble. She won't mind if she's the one who took it home anyway. I don't even know when she'll be back or if she'll even be home tonight." Now Jeremy was about to take a huge chance. "Feel free to go in and peak around." He concluded, waving a hand up.

If that was the invitation a vampire needed, which Jeremy suspected it was, Nicole gave no sign of elation. Instead she simply smiled with a quiet 'thanks' and stepped inside quickly, letting Jeremy lead her up to Elena's room. There was a chance that perhaps she really was just human. Maybe that was why Elena hadn't bothered to mention her name to Jeremy yet. Most of their conversations revolved around the supernatural figures in their lives so maybe she just wanted to keep someone human away from all of that for now. Good luck with that.

Jeremy leaned against the doorframe watching as Nicole peeked around. After a moment she spun around as if just realising he was still there.

"You don't have to watch me you know. I don't want to keep you from your video games or whatever you were doing when I arrived." She said with a grin.

"Ah it's no worries. I just want to make sure you find it okay. Elena's room is a mess."

"Is yours any better?" Nicole asked with what sounded like a smirk in her voice as she rummaged through a large pile of clothes next to Elena's wardrobe, her back to Jeremy.

Was she flirting with him? Jeremy was so wary with people and vampires now that sometimes he forgot what it was like to be a proper teenager.

"Uh.." he stammered about for a moment, trying to think of a proper answer. Before he got the chance, Nicole stood up with a cheer, holding up a dark green jacket. She stuffed it into her satchel over her shoulder and turned to face Jeremy.

"Success!" she grinned at him as she tucked a sleeve into the bag. There was a moment of awkwardness between the two of them as Jeremy fought for something to say, for some clue of what to do now.

"Uh so, I'll just head out now. Um, feel free to let Elena know I stopped by and got the jacket." Nicole said, one hand clinging to the strap of her bag as she let the other arm swing awkwardly in the air. She shuffled past him and made it two steps away from the front door before Jeremy made up his mind.

"Hey wait!" he called out, stumbling down the stairs to catch up to her. Nicole halted where she was and turned to face him, an expectant look in her eyes.

Jeremy looked at her for a moment. She was supposedly Elena's friend. There was still a possibility that she was a vampire. All signs told him to let her walk out the door. But honestly, Jeremy was getting sick of getting screwed over by the world and sick of not getting screwed. Sometimes he just wanted to make his own decisions even if there was every chance it was the wrong one.

"I was just about to make some lunch so uh, are you hungry at all?" he asked, trying to keep any presence of hope out of his tone. He was pretty sure he failed miserably. Luckily Nicole either didn't catch it or she didn't mind.

Letting her satchel slide off her shoulder and onto the floor next to the door, she let a wide smile slide up her mouth again, her eyes shining slightly.

"Actually I'm starving."


End file.
